Pam Timeline + Our time in Sydney

Warning: lengthy post! I’ve been working on this post for several days. We don’t have much internet access and we have been trying to get in as much Sydney sightseeing as possible while we are here, so I haven’t made the time to post it and have instead just been adding to it and making it longer and longer each day!

I’ll start with a timeline of events up until now with a brief explanation of each. Some of this may be repetitive from the previous post, but I wanted the whole timeline in one place…

• ·         Saturday March 7^th: Our group traveled to Vila for interviews with our program managers and got wind of the cyclone.
• ·         Sunday March 8^th: We went to church with our family and then planned to swim to Pele (sp) which is another small island just across the ocean from Nguna. We were told after church that we were on “stand by” and that we were not allowed to leave our current location until further notice…meaning no swim to Pele. We swam in the ocean at Nguna instead and then went fishing with our family that night. We had an unsettling and unsure feeling about when/if we would be evacuated to Vila with the other volunteers. 
• ·         Monday March 9^th: We tried to have a normal day of training (which we did for the most part, with the exception of a lot of talk about what might happen and whether or not we might be evacuated). That afternoon, many of us were beginning to feel frustrated about not yet knowing what was going to happen. We had no internet, had little communication with volunteers or staff in Vila, didn’t know what the storm was looking like, didn’t know if we were going to be evacuated, didn’t know when that would happen if it was going to, etc. All we knew was that there was a storm and that the volunteers had voiced concerned and were already together in Vila. I decided to call Keith, our country director, and voice our concerns. He told me that they were planning on sending out a message that night stating that we were being brought into Vila the next day. Our boat would be there at 11:00. We would all be going to the Holiday Inn because they wanted us all under the same roof and Pacific Paradise did not have enough space for that. Also, the Holiday Inn is a very safe building. We felt relieved to have an answer, but sad to leave our families on Nguna. We did not know if we would be returning there because we only had a few more days of training there, and weren’t sure when we would be sent back or if we would just go to the next training location instead of going back there first. At this point we thought we would be in Vila until the storm passed and then we would go on with our training as usual. We packed and had dinner with our family that night.
• ·         Tuesday March 10^th: We had devotion with our family and after devotion they prayed over us. They prayed for our safety and for us during our service since we weren’t sure if we would be coming back there or not. All of our families walked with us to the boat and waved goodbye to us as we rode away. It was sad. When we arrived in Vila, we ate lunch, had a language assessment, checked into the AMAZING Holiday Inn and then had a meeting with the whole group. At this point the feeling was very positive and the storm seemed like it may not be a huge threat. We were divided into small groups with team leaders, who we would meet with each day and we were told that training would continue as usual there in the hotel. That night we had a fun pool party.
• ·         Wednesday March 11^th: We split into our groups within our group (Education and Community health) and had a separate session. At around 10:15 we all met up for a second session on Bystandard Prevention. During the meeting Russell got a phone call, the phone was passed to Judy-who is one of the people in charge of safety and security and who was leading this session—Judy informed us that we had moved to stage 2, meaning that we were not allowed to leave the hotel. About 2 minutes later, all of our phones started to ring. Our team leaders were calling to tell us we were being evacuated and needed to go and pack. We waited for confirmation from Judy, who had also received another phone call, got the confirmation and then all headed off to pack. I cried. People were a bit panicked. It happened very fast. Within 30 minutes we were all packed, and in the lobby waiting for our next directions. We were told we were going to American Samoa. We boarded buses and then Keith came on the buses and told us that the Department of Defense had not approved us for the military plane we were supposed to be getting on. We all got off the buses, went back into the hotel and waited for more information. That afternoon we were told that we would be hunkering down at the HH and waiting out the storm there. Feelings changed to worried and uneasy.
• ·         Thursday March 12^th: We were told after the team leaders meeting at 9:00 that we would in fact be evacuated and that we would be getting on a plane to Sydney that afternoon.  The storm was very large at this point and was heading straight towards Vanuatu. We all called our families and told them to PREPARE! Some took it seriously, and some did not. The weather at this point was okay, a little windy and partly cloudy with periods of light rain. Some of our families don’t have TV and internet and were having a hard time believing that it was coming. Also, many people in Vanuatu believe strongly in customs. Some families were telling the volunteers things like they had done a custom ceremony and that the storm would not come. Luckily, all of our families took what we were saying seriously and told us that they were preparing. We were skeptical of the evacuation because of the previous day. We were packed and in the lobby around lunch time. Once we were at the airport we waited for a long while for our visas to go through and for our boarding passes to be printed. We then waited for another ling while for our chartered plane to arrive. We got to the airport around 1:00 and boarded the plane a little before 6:00. As we were walking out to board the plane several of the wonderful PC Vanuatu staff, who we were leaving behind, stood at a departure decked and waved goodbye to us as we boarded. Again, very sad. We arrived in Sydney around 10:00, went to the hotel and went to sleep. It had been a long day…and we had several more long days ahead.
• ·         Friday March 13^th: We checked the internet for cyclone updates A LOT. We knew it was scheduled to hit sometime that day or the next. We were still in communication with some of the PC staff in Vanuatu at this point. That day, we bought some warmer clothes—because it gets chilly here in Sydney and we don’t have clothes for that!!—we went to see the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, we walked around the city, had a drink at a hole in the wall bar, walked to Darling Harbour, and then headed back to the hotel. It was fun, which I couldn’t help but feel guilty about. The storm hit late that night and into Saturday morning.
• ·         Saturday March 14^th: The storm was still hitting and was now the front page on CNN and the weather channel. Many people were reading about it online, some were steering clear. Reports were not good. We decided to try to stay positive and enjoy our time in Sydney as much as possible. We took the train to Circular Quay, walked to the Wharf, ate lunch and got on the ferry to the zoo. I loved the ferry ride and the views of Sydney from the ferry were amazing. The zoo was really fun. We went to a seal show, saw the giraffes being fed, went to a Koala talk where they got fed and we learned all about them, and saw lots and lots of other fun animals. We took the ferry back to the wharf around 5:15, got starbucks and headed back to the hotel. No word from PC staff, not able to get in touch with family. Still not good reports on the news or on the internet.
• ·         Sunday March 15^th: Waiting to hear from headquarters about damage and our next steps. Had heard that some PC staff were safe. Good news! Also had heard more news about damage and deaths. Not good news. Cole and I went with a small group to a thrift sore for more warm clothes since it looked like we would be here a while. We didn’t find much at the thrift store so we took a bus to the mall and got some things there. We had lunch at the mall and then headed back to the hotel. Not much of an exciting day. We had become very worried at this point that we would not be able to go back to Vanuatu with Peace Corps due to the amount of damage and the fact that it may not be safe in terms of proper housing and/or food and water. We had started seek out disaster training in order to prepare ourselves for work we may be doing when/if we did get to go back. Many people, including Cole and I, also started to explore other options for going back should we not be able to go back with Peace Corps.
• ·         Monday March 16^th: Still no word from headquarters about when/if we would be going back. Had heard from more staff and trainers that they were safe! GREAT news! Still no word from our families. Started to have meetings with small groups—committees kind of – about fundraising, getting training together, etc. Cole went a played ultimate Frisbee with a group of peeps, I hung out at the hotel. A Peace Corps phycologist arrived and talked to us as a whole group about how he was there to support us and how he would be holding individual meetings and some optional whole group meetings. Not a very eventful day. Morale was kind of low.
• ·         Tuesday March 17^th: STILL no word from headquarters. Cole and I did hear from our family on Lelepa that they are safe but do not have much food. Still no word from our families on Nguna or Santo. We heard that our mama at my site, Narango, on Santo was safe. She had been in Vila during the cyclone and the volunteer who was at our site before us was able to get in touch with her. No word on the rest of the family who were in Narango. Sasha, who works for PC in Washington and was with us for the first 5 weeks of our training arrived. She told us that there was not much news from headquarters at that point. We did find out that Keith was doing a fly over to assess damage, so we were hopeful for some news soon. We all went out that afternoon/evening for St. Patrick’s Day/Natalie’s birthday! It was really fun.
• ·         Wednesday March 18^th: We were told during breakfast that there would be a mandatory meeting at 8:00. At the meeting we were told- FINALLY -that headquarters had met and had made a decision….WE ARE GOING BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, this could change depending on further assessment, but it is the plan as of right now. Headquarters is having another meeting on Friday, so Saturday our time, and we probably won’t know any more until then. BUT, as of right now it looks like all of us will be able to return to Vanuatu with Peace Corps in some capacity. We were told that we will probably be here in Sydney for 7 more days and that trainees and volunteers may be going back at different times. We think that trainees will go back first, and will be going to Luganville, Santo to finish training and be sworn in. We don’t know right now if we will be going to our original site or if we will be doing what we originally came to Vanuatu to do (for Cole and me: teach). We do know that the southern islands were hit much worse than the northern islands. We were told that some of our sites are destroyed and that many things are likely to change. Our permanent site is in the North and from what we understand was not hit very hard and has minimal damage.
• ·         Thursday March 19^th: A big group of us left at 6:00am and took two trains for two and a half hours to the Blue Mountains. We walked around the sweet little town there, that reminded us a lot of Asheville or Hendersonville, stopped at a bakery and went into some cool outdoor store (I got a bookbag and Cole got a new watchband) and then we went on a 4 hour hike! It was so BEAUTIFUL! It was through the Blue Mountains and we saw the Three Sisters Mountains and lots of waterfalls and cascades. We stopped in a little clearing for lunch, some of us went in one of the COLD waterfalls, we walked up like 1,500 stairs, I hurt my knee, and after we finished the hike we stopped at a beer garden for a few drinks before getting back on the train. We got back to the hotel around 8:00. It was a really nice day because it was fun and the views were amazing and the waterfalls were amazing and the people we were with are amazing. We also didn’t think or talk much (until the long train ride home) about the cyclone or about what is going to happen next, which was nice.
• ·         Friday March 19^th –HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN! –  This morning we had a training from a women who works for the Australian Red Cross. After the training we got per diem for the next 5 days and then we got a letter from Keith about some of the damage he has seen and his thoughts about what is next (no new news really, just that he is working hard to get us back there!), we also heard from Keith’s wife, Aimee, who got here yesterday. She told us about her experience and answered a lot of questions for us about what is happening in Vila right now. After Aimee’s talk we went to lunch and then had another training – that Cole organized! – from the New South Wales Emergency Management Services. After that I took a nap AND WATCHED ELLEN and now we are about to eat some dinner and then go out on the town for a bit. We still haven’t talked to our family in Nguna. Cole got a haircut today.
• ·         Saturday March 20^th- Today after breakfast and a Group 27 meeting Cole, Lea, Lucas and I headed to Bondi Beach! It was not an ideal beach day, around 70 degrees and cloudy, but we decided to go anyway because we don’t know how many more days we will be here. We took the train to a stop in the city so Lucas could take advantage of a Vans flip flop sale and then took the bus to Bondi Beach. As soon as we got to the beach we walked to Bondi Ink Tattoo and I got my nose pierced and Lea got a tattoo. I wanted to do something crazy here in Sydney! Cole was in the room with me. It hurt. After our tattoo and piercing adventure we headed to happy hour. Lea and I decided to stop on the way to happy hour and get FroYo instead of having beers with the guys. After we finished our sweet treats/brews we did the Eastern Beaches Coastal Walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. The walk took about an hour and a half. It was along the coast, was really pretty and reminded me a lot of San Diego. When we got to Coogee we had some delicious Thai food (a nice change from the hotel food we have been eating for over a week!) and then took a bus to meet a bunch of people at Darling Harbour for the Friday Fireworks show. We made it to Darling harbor right in time for the fireworks! After the show we went to Margaritaville and danced to a live band and then a DJ. There was a big group of us there, the band was great, the DJ was great, and we had a great time!

Some other thoughts and info...

We found out yesterday (Saturday) that Keith – country director – and Ken – Regional director – are both coming to Sydney and will be having a meeting with all of us sometime on Monday. We should find out then when we will be leaving Sydney and going back to Vanuatu!

We found out the other day that the death toll in Vanuatu is low and that many volunteers and aid organizations are there now doing relief work. They are working on getting food and supplies to the outer islands that were hit hardest.

It is weird to see people driving on the other side of the road in the other side of their cars.

It is also weird to walk on the other side of the sidewalk or mall and to have the escalators on the opposite sides of what we are used to!  

I kind of miss bucket baths.

I don’t miss the flies. Vanuatu has more flies than any other place on earth (including Edisto Seafood!!)

I need to practice Bislama! Everything we have learned the last 2 months is slowly leaving me!

Uncertainty is excruciating.

We have a curfew while we are here in Sydney. It was 10:00, but has now been extended to 11:00. There have been a few nights where we have cut it close and large groups of us have found ourselves sprinting from the train station to the hotel (once in the rain) to make it back in time!

Parts of our time here have been really hard. I feel bad saying that knowing how much harder it has been for the people in Vanuatu effected by this awful storm. We are here with Group 26, who have been serving in Vanuatu for over a year and with some extendees from Group 24 or 25, who have been serving in Vanuatu for more than two years. People are at different points in their service and therefore have different feelings and emotions. People have different personalities, and people are stressed for many different reasons and handle that stress in many different ways. People who have been there longer obviously have different connections to Vanuatu than we do and it is impossible for us to all relate to one another. This is a stressful and crazy situation that we have all been thrown into and it has taken some time to get used to it and to make sense of it…which is still in the making! The groups have been meeting separately and together with the PC psychologist that is here and everyone has started to work well together and, I feel, to let go of the differences between us all and realize that regardless of the difference in our service, our feelings and our emotions, we are all in this together. Sometimes people from different groups never get to meet each other because of the fact that we are all on different islands far away from one another, so this is a unique situation that we have the opportunity to take advantage of. We have had the chance to get to know people from different groups and I have found that there are some really awesome and amazing people in all the groups and I am so happy to have gotten to meet and get to know them all.

Here is a picture of all of us before boarding the plane from Vanuatu to Sydney

I found myself thinking a lot about what it might be like if we were sent home, which seemed like a real possibility for many days. I thought about how wonderful it would be to see Murray, to see our families, to see our friends, to meet baby Charlie, to attend Crawford and Mcrea’s wedding, to eat at McConkeys, etc. But I also thought about the fact that going home would mean that we would have failed at our overseas attempts AGAIN, that we wouldn’t have health insurance, or cars, or a home of our own, or jobs, and most of all that going home meant that we would not be going back to Vanuatu. Sometimes I thought maybe I wanted to go home, but mostly I thought how not ready for that I was and how badly I wanted to go back somehow and in some capacity. It was so nice to finally hear that we will be going back and to be able to move forward with that and stop thinking about those “what ifs”. We now have a whole new set of “what ifs” to consider, but that news was still so relieving.

While we now know that we will, should things not change, be going back to Vanuatu, there are still a TON of unanswered questions. When will our swearing in be? Will we go back to our original site? Will we teach? Will we go somewhere else and help with disaster relief? How can we help our families? How can we help other volunteers? Will we be able to do this? What will we see? How will we deal with what we see? It seems very difficult at this point, after all of this, to think about going back and continuing with service as it would have been before stupid Pam. But, we are trying to just focus on the fact that we get to go back at all, and realize that no matter what we end up doing, we have the amazing opportunity to help the wonderful people of Vanuatu in some way.

I have been helping with the fundraising committee and we will hopefully be posting a little project we have been working on soon. In working on the project we were all thinking about why we love Vanuatu so much and trying to put those reasons into words. I haven’t fallen in love with Vanuatu as deeply as some of the people here, but I feel like I will over the next two years! I do know that the people of Vanuatu are some of the most kind and beautiful people I have ever met. I know that our host families began treating us as their own the minute we met them. I know that people who didn’t know us at all welcomed us into their communities with open arms, local kaekae, island clothes, etc. I know that they hold so tight to their beliefs, their religion, their customs and their culture and I have a lot of respect for them because of that. It is an interesting, at times infuriating, beautiful, unique, tiny, country that I am excited to learn more about and make my home for the next two years.

I know I have said it before, but we really do appreciate so much all of the concern, the kind words, the thoughts and prayers for us and for the people in Vanuatu, and the support. I am so happy to hear that Vanuatu has been making the news in America and I hope it means that people will not only help, but will also think about coming to visit and getting to experience some of the great things that we have already experienced! Here are some links to organizations who are currently accepting donations and providing relief to Vanuatu should you want to donate. We will be continuing to update people on the best places to donate to once we are back. Feel free to share these links with your friends and family, on your facebook, in an email to everyone you know, with your church, etc. Thank you! Cheers.

•http://www.unicef.org.au/ : UNICEF works to ensure that communities have the knowledge and resources necessary to provide for the needs of their children.
•https://www.care.org.au/appeals/cyclone-pam/… : CARE works in communities across Vanuatu, preparing the people to face disasters such as this, and gives them the skills they need to respond and rebuild.
•https://www.oxfam.org.au/…/international-crisis-fund-cyclon… : OXFAM works to help governments, businesses, and communities be as prepared and strong as possible. They assist organizations in working together to build a stronger future.
•http://redcross.org.au/cyclone-pam-vanuatu-2015-appeal.aspx : The Red Cross focuses on first aid training as well as responding to crises, helping under-resourced communities across Vanuatu.

Here are a few photos of some of the things we have been up to in Sydney...There are lots more on my facebook. 

A long update thanks to cyclone pam providing hours of free time

Here is some information about our training so far, what we've been up to over the last 3 weeks, our host families, food in Vanuatu, Schools in Vanuatu and Cyclone Pam 

Sorry there are no pictures...it is storming here now which is making the internet move slowly and they are taking too long to load. I posted a ton of pictures on my facebook today and if you would like to see them, you can click the link to my FB account on the right. :)

Training

 I haven’t really explained our training in any of the previous posts, so I thought I would take a minute to do that! All Peace Corps volunteers have to go through 10 weeks of training before they can be sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. During our training we have sessions on language, culture, safety and security, monitoring and evaluating, medical, and either education, health or IT (depending on what you have been assigned to. So, education for both Cole and myself). During our training we have had to get used to a number of things, including but not limited to: trainings not starting on time, trainings being moved to other days because of not being able to get to them due to not starting on time, trainings being long and seemingly pointless at times, some trainings being very helpful and useful, trainings being intense at times (mostly when talking about intense topics, like our health or safety), lots of down time between training sessions, etc. During our down time we talk, read, play cards, play charades, swim, etc. Due to the cyclone, the last few weeks of our training will change because as our right now our training has been suspended for the rest of the week (at least) and we will have to make up the sessions we are missing at some point. We were supposed to swear in on April 2^nd…hopefully that will still happen, but we’ll see. Our training so far has gone like this…

Week 1: All volunteers were together at our first training site, which was called IDS and was about a 30 minute bus ride from Port Vila.

Week 2 and 3: Vitel (education and IT) volunteers went to a training village on Lelepa Island, about a 30 minute bus ride and then a 15 minute boat ride from Vila. All community health volunteers went to Nguna Island, about an hour bus ride and 30 minute boat ride from Vila, where they were split up on two different villages: Taloa—which is down by the salt water—and Mere—which is about a 45 minute hike up a mountain. We met up on both Fridays (the first in Lelepa and the second in Nguna) for trainings sessions which pertained to all of us…safety and security and medical mostly.

Week 4: We all went to our sites for “wokabot week” where we got a glimpse of what our lives would be like for the next two years. We met our host families, saw our “houses”, met the people in our villages and the people we would be working with, etc. It was a long, exciting, challenging, eye opening, week.

Week 5, 6 and 7: Vitel and Community Health switched islands, so Vitel went to Nguna and split up on Taloa and Mere (Cole and I were on Taloa, by the salt water) and Comm Health went to Lelepa. We still met up on Friday’s, the first on Lelepa and the second on Nguna. We are still supposed to be on Nguna and were supposed to meet up on Lelepa this Friday, but we are currently in Vila and have been since Tuesday March 10^th, due to the cyclone.

The rest of training is TBD… we were supposed to spend next week at the provincial capital of our islands (so Cole and I would have been in Luganville, Santo), the following week visiting a current volunteer (we were supposed to go to the island of Ambae), and then be in Vila until swearing in on the 2^nd and heading to our permanent sites on the 6^th. We have been told that the volunteer visits have been canceled (total bummer), but other than that we have no idea what the rest of training will look like.

I have gotten frustrated a few times during training and I have had to learn to be patient, go with the flow, wait and be flexible. Turns out Island Time is a very very real thing here in Vanuatu. 

Some things we’ve been up to over the last 3 weeks on Nguna Island

·        We have been doing some practice teaching at the school in our village which has been good. We have been co teaching with other trainees. Cole and I taught one lesson on personal experiences together, I taught one lesson with Colton on Insects and then one lesson with Nicole on adjectives. Cole has taught with Nicole, Colton and Thomas. He mostly likes teaching in grades 4, 5, and 6 and I like teaching in class 2 and 3. We have also spent a little time just observing.

·         On the first Friday we were in Nguna we went to Lelepa for the day and when we got on the boat for our 30 minute boat ride the clouds started to roll in. Right when the boat arrived on Nguna, it started to POUR rain. A few of us thought for a minute about going to get our suits on and going swimming in the rain, but then we decided there was no time to go get suits and just went in in our clothes. It was really fun.

·         That Saturday we climbed the mountain to Mere with some current volunteers who were there to talk to us about one of the Peace Corps Committees and have a mini camp with some of the kids in the village to show us what one of their events (a week long camp) would be like, in case we are interested in joining the committee or attending the camp. It was, again, pouring rain! So, the hike up and down the mountain was quite wet and muddy! We played Frisbee and Futbol in the rain with the kids and then did some fun activities with them to teach them about positive ways to communicate with one another. It was a fun day.

That Sunday, after church, a group of us on Taloa decided to hike the 45 min to Mere, meet up with the volunteers there and then hike up to a dormant volcano. We were told it was a 2 kilometer long hike. WRONG! It was 2K to the trail to hike up the mountain to the volcano! The hike was long, steep and hot! I was so sweaty, I could feel my heart beat all over by body, I thought I might pass out a few times, I cried once, and once we all got to the top we decided to be super culturally inappropriate and take of our shirts! That’s why some of the girls in the photos from this hike are wearing sports bras! Once we got to the top, the view was really really pretty and it felt good to have made it. I will not ever be doing it again.

·         March 5^th was Sean and Grace’s birthday. Our host mom and Kelly’s host mom both made cakes for them. Kathleen and Hannah hiked down from Mere and all of us got together at the beach kava bar and ate cake, drank kava and had a lot of fun!

·         One night we went fishing with our host parents and their family (a couple who was in town visiting them from New Caledonia). We walked down to the beach with our headlamps and flashlights. We used beer bottles wrapped in fishing line with a hook on the end and hermit crabs for bait to fish. Our  mama made a fire on the beach. The moon was full and really pretty. No one caught anything, but it was pretty fun!

·         We spend a lot of time with our small group here on Taloa (9 of us…half of the Vitel group, since the other half is up the mountain in Mere). There is a bungalow here that was built to house tourists who come to Nguna. It isn’t quite finished yet so it’s not open for tourists, BUT we have been able to use it for sessions and as a hang out. It’s right on the beach, has a nice table with comfy wicker chairs and gets a great breeze! It’s an awesome spot for playing cards, playing charades or just hanging out! There’s also a great mango tree that we sometimes hang out under or have sessions under.

·         We have also spent a lot of time with our host family here. They are wonderful…more about them below…

·         On Saturday, March 8^th we all went into Vila for the day for an interview with our project managers. It was a great day where we got to use the internet, talk to family and friends and eat cheeseburgers and drink milkshakes. It was also the day we learned about the cyclone. We were told that all of the volunteers were being brought in from their islands and that we would probably be brought back in at some point during the week. As you now know, we were brought in on the following Tuesday (the 10^th).  

Host Families

So, we now have 4 host families in Vanuatu…

Lelepa: Rex, Dominque (Tommy) and Talviroa (Talvi). They were so wonderful to us. They are younger than us, but taught us a lot about living in Vanuatu. They treated us, and still treat us, as members of their family and they genuinely care for us. We also had a lot of fun with them!

Santo (my permanent site): Mama, Papa, and Junior (class 3). They also have 2 other children who are away at school and who we haven’t met yet. It was different there because we did not live with our host family as we had in Lelepa and as we would in Nguna. We had our own house and walked across the village to our families house each day at least once a day. We didn’t get to know our papa there too well because he was away for most of the week for work (he is a carpenter). Our mama is amazing and did everything she could for us and more! Junior is also wonderful! He is a good student, he is respectful, he is so helpful to his mom and he is super cute and sweet! I think he is really excited about having us there. I know he really loved Jessica, the previous volunteer at my site. He especially loves Cole and always wants to show him his toys (he loves them all so much, Jessica!) and hang out with him! I can already tell I’m going to be second favorite!

Santo (cole’s permanent site): Our family at Cole’s site picked us up from the airport when we arrived in Luganville and had arranged for a truck to drive us the hour in a half to our site, which was great! It was mama, papa and their youngest son, Tyson, who is 5. They also have 3 other sons. We only saw them one time after our first night there. We had lunch with them the first time we hiked to Cole’s site and the second time we hiked to his site they were not there. They seem very nice and hopefully we’ll get to know them better once we get to our site in April!

Nguna: Papa Luna and Mama Christina. They are also amazing! Papa is the smartest man I have met in Vanuatu so far and mama is the best cook! Papa has traveled all over the world (which is very rare for Ni Vans) and has even taught at Cambridge. They are two of the most kind people I’ve ever met, and they’re also both really funny. They are older, have both been married before and both have 4 children from their previous marriages. They are very religious and we have devotion twice each day, once before breakfast and once before dinner. During devotion Mama plays her homemade ukulele and sings one or two songs and then Papa says an opening prayer, reads and talks about a bible verse and then says a closing prayer. It normally lasts about 20 or 25 minutes. It was really nice and Cole and I both enjoyed it. It was all in Bislama, which really helped us and was kindof a language lesson each time, and Papa always brought us or the peace corps into his talk. He reminds me a lot of you, Poppy.

Our host families on Lelepa, my site in Santo and Nguna took such good care of us and we are very grateful for all of them. They are wonderful people who took us in and treated us as a part of their family. Our Mamas on Lelepa and Nguna both cried when we left them (of course I cried, too!) When people take you in and take care of you like that, it is hard not to get attached. I know we will keep in touch with all of them throughout our time here and hopefully after!

Food in Vanuatu

Cole and I are both lucky and happy to say that we enjoy a lot of the island kaekae! Kaekae is the Bislama word for food (and eat and cook). We eat a lot of fruits and vegetables (some that are found in the US, like bananas and potatoes, and some that aren’t, like taro and manioc). We also eat a lot of rice, some meat, some fish, island cabbage, fried banana, cumala (sweet potato) chips, simboro and laplap. Simboro is grated banana, manioc or taro wrapped in island cabbage and cooked over a fire and usually covered with coconut milk. Laplap is grated banana, manioc, or taro wrapped in laplap leaves and cooked over a fire. In Vila and Luganville there are stores where we can get ingredients to make America food, like spaghetti or tacos. Once we are at site we will probably cook for ourselves a few nights a week and go to our host families house for dinner the rest of the time. There is not really anything I have found that I hate, yet. I am not a huge fan of tin meat and tin tuna, which we also eat a lot of, but I can tolerate it. We will not be going hungry!

Schools in Vanuatu

All schools that I have seen so far have just about the same schedule...

School here starts at 7:30 with devotion from 7:30 to 8:00. Sometimes kids come around 6:30 and sometimes they don’t come until 8:30. English is from 8:00 to 10:00 and then there is supposed to be a break, maybe what we would call recess, from 10:00 to 10:15. Some kids go home during this break and some stick around the school grounds. There is no such thing as playgrounds here, but Cole and I are gonna try to build some swings at our schools! Most of the time the break ends up lasting until 10:30 or 10:45. After the break they have math time from then until lunch, which is usually from either 11:30 -1:00 or 12:00-1:00. Kids go home and eat lunch and then hopefully come back for the afternoon. The afternoon is either used to finish work from the morning or maybe for social science or science. School ends around 2:30. A lot of schools have problems with both teacher and student attendance. Also, many times teachers just walk out of the classroom and leave the class unsupervised. Some teachers have great ideas and teach good lessons, but most do not lesson plan, teach straight from a “teachers guide” and their lessons involve a lot of copying things from the board or repeating what the teacher says (kind of like robots). Learning is very teacher directed and you rarely see students working in groups or pairs. They are generally well behaved, but most are very behind. We will be working with the kids mostly in English during the first few hours of the day and then maybe pulling out small groups. We will be trying to co plan and co teach with the teachers. A lot of times we will be walking around the village during school hours, and see kids just hanging out at their house. For many families it does not seem like a priority and it is not a law here that children have to attend school. So, I think we will try to do some workshops or spread the word in our villages on the importance of education and the importance of going to school (both for teachers and students). Also, the volunteer before me at my site created a WONDERFUL library (seriously Jessica, if you are reading this…it really is amazing!) and we are going to try to collect more books for it. The library at Cole’s site right now is really sad. They are in the process of building a new one, which we hope to be a large part of, and we are going to try to get books for his too. So, if you or anyone you know (schools, churches, anyone,) would like to donate books or materials PLEASE let me know! Our schools are definitely going to be a challenge, but hopefully we will be able to help in some way and make some difference!

Cyclone Pam 

So, here is a little play by play up until this point…

As I said, we first heard of the cyclone when we went into Vila on Saturday. We went back to Nguna on Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday and most of Monday feeling very anxious. We knew there was a cyclone, we knew it had potential to be a big, we knew the volunteers were being brought it, and that’s it. Once we were back in Nguna we didn’t have access to internet and therefore couldn’t track the storm at all, and had not heard if or when we would be brought in to vila. We knew we had a boat ride in between us and Vila and some of us were nervous and ready to be safely in Vila with the rest of the volunteers. We finally got word on Monday afternoon that boats would be there on Tuesday at 11:00am to take us to Vila. We were glad, but also started to worry about our families there. We got to Vila on Tuesday around 2:30 (the boat ride took forever because the water was super choppy and we, surprise, did not leave by Nguna by 11:00). We went to the PC office and had language assessments (Cole and I both did well!) and then went to the hotel around 4:00. We had a meeting with PC staff at 5:00 to tell us what the next steps were, what the current cyclone situation was, and what the plan was in case of this or that. It didn’t seem like it was going to be too bad at that point and we were told we were at a “stage 1” which meant we were free to leave the hotel and go around town and that our training sessions would continue the next day. That night we had a delicious meal at the hotel and then had a fun pool party! Today, Wednesday, we got up and had breakfast and then Vitel and Comm Health split up and had a training session from 8:00-10:00. Around 10:15 we all met up for a safety and security session. Around 10:45, Judy, who is the PC staff member who was giving our training got a phone call. Also, the group leaders started to get phone calls (we were split into groups with vols and trainees as team leaders to make it easier to spread info and keep everyone safe and accounted for). We were then told that the storm had gotten worse and had changed direction and that we would be evacuated from country. They told us to go pack all of our things and be in the lobby in 30 minutes. I hadn’t started to panic at all until this point. Being the emotional person that I am, I started to cry and freak out. I wasn’t the only one which made me feel better. We came to our room and packed our stuff in record time. We got to the lobby and were told that our flight was leaving at 12. We were loaded onto buses with all of our stuff by 11:50, which is when they came and told us to get off the bus and that plans had changed. Once we were all back in the lobby we were told that DOD hadn’t approved us to get on the military flight and that there was not enough room for all of us. They said they were exploring other options and that there would be a meeting with team leaders at 2:00 where they would relay the latest news for our leaders to come and tell us. Around 3:00, we were told that the airlines had been shut down and that it was too late to evacuate. By this time the hotel was already being boarded up. Since then we have been getting updates on the storm regularly and have been given information on what to do and where to go when it hits, which will likely be tomorrow or Friday. I think we are all feeling nervous and anxious and super worried for our families. Everyone is trying to stay positive and stay busy. We will probably start to go stir crazy sometime tomorrow. We are on lockdown at the hotel and we have meeting with our team leaders at 9:00 am, 2:00pm and 10:00pm. They are still working on finishing up boarded the hotel, it should all be done by tomorrow morning. So far it has been windy and it has rained some. Nothing crazy yet. I’ll keep updates coming on facebook as long as we have power and internet connection.

Anything you want to know about our time here so far that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to ask!

Thanks for all the positive thoughts and kind words! We love ya’ll! 

Vanuatu! Cultural Differences: #1 Kava

First off, Kava is pretty awesome. Thus far, I think what I like the most is the social aspect it provides. Alcohol and cigarettes are expensive ($3 a beer when you can find it in tiny home-run stores, and anywhere from $4.50-6 in bars, and $0.50 a cig), so a $1 shell of Kava is most people's vice of choice. I haven't gone off on my own to drink in our community yet, but am certain it'll be one of the best ways to assimilate in Narango once we fully arrive in April to site. Kava bars, or commonly called (miscalled?) nakamals, are placed sporadically throughout the villages and towns. It seems anyone can open a kava bar (maybe you need some loose business license - definitely doesn't appear to be any health inspections!) on their property, or even in their backyards. So you can casually stroll through the village, walk into someone's yard, and buy a shell or two. Kava is sold in 50, 100, or 150 portions, relating to the cost in Vatu (local currency). The size of the "shell" - the cup you use to drink, although I've yet to see a real coconut shell being used - depends from island to island, and the potency of the kava really drastically depends. I think it depends on where it's grown, when it was harvested, how much water is used in mixing, and how it was prepared. 

Preparation: Kava is chopped up into manageable sections, then it can be mashed, ground or chewed. Seems most is ground in a meat grinder, then you use a cloth (or I've seen someone using children's underwear - clean? I'll never know) to squeeze the kava to release all the goodness. Chewed kava is interesting...some islands in particular enjoy their kava chewed - elder men have young prepubescent boys chew the kava continuously, then spit it into a bucket, where it's cut with some amount of water and drank immediately. Sounds good, huh? When we first got to Lelepa, I drank two shells of this type of kava from the island of Tanna. They had it left over (2 weeks left over I later learned) from a local boys circumcision ceremony. I immediately sat down on the ground and watched my world spin around. It was awesome and awful at once...but it wears off eventually. 

Taste: bad. Like peppery muddy water. It's hard to get down your throat, and gets harder with each shell. Not even the locals seem to enjoy the taste, as they spit continuously afterward and cough up all kinds of loogies. Most kava bars have some water for you to "klinimaot" and food for you to "wasemaot" the taste. It doesn't seem to be an acquired taste, just something you have to get used to if you want to reap the benefits. 

Feeling: pretty schweeeet. Depending on the kava, after shell #1, you immediately will feel your lips and tongue tingle and go slightly numb. If you try stand, you'll notice your motor skills have begun to slow down and aren't at 100%. If you are quiet and just chill out, you'll become aware of all sounds and sights around you. It's a cool feeling. There's so much always going on that we don't take the time or effort to consider, but kava helps you appreciate it all...at least in my opinion. Each subsequent shell either adds to the feeling(s), or simply helps to prolong it. I have only been doing 1-2 shells when I drink. One Saturday I did 5 (including that Tanna chewed delicacy), and was pretty messed up, if I'm being honest. You gotta find your limit somewhere...? You never feel drunk like you would off alcohol (at least I haven't...yet), but I'm finding I'm enjoying the experiences. Each kava bar also has its own personality, which is cool. 

Come to Vanuatu and drink kava with me! 

Saved by the snail mail!

As it turns out we had to stay in port Vila last night because our flight didn't get in until 4:30 and by the time we got to Pacific Paradise -- a hotel here in Vila where all PC vols stay when they are here and where we were all meeting up before going to our training islands -- and then gave our receipts from the week to the financial peeps from PC that were here and got more money for the next few weeks and then waited for buses and what not, it was getting dark and PC policy says that we cannot take a boat in the dark. So, we got a night in a hotel room which has a fan and wifi! We all went out for dinner last night and were able to catch up on each other's week, sites, families, etc. It was really nice! I love our group and it's really fun when a lot of us are together! Some stories of people's sites made me super jealous and some made me super glad that ours is what is it!! Some people had some crrrrazy stories It's now 7:00 am. Our bus is coming to pick us up at 7:30... This means in PC time we will probably leave port vila around 9! Island time is a real thing around here! 

Anyway... On to the purpose of this post! 

When we got to pacific paradise yesterday I was not in the best mood... It had been a long week and a long day of travel. A few annoying things, not even big enough to mention, happened on the way from the airport to the hotel and I was just a little fed up! We were greeted by some other vols who noticed I was not in the best spirits and told me that we had a bunch of mail because they knew that would cheer me up! They were right-- we did have some mail and it did cheer me up...big time! We had two packages, one card and 3 letters! It was so amazing! We loved it all so much and it makes us feel so wonderful! The packages were so great and I loved getting the card and reading the letters! So, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to those of you who have sent things that we have ready received, who have sent things that we have not yet received, and who plan to send things in the future! It is all much appreciated.. The letters just as much as the packages! 

Alright... Going to get some coffee and a quick breakfast before we head to Nguna!

Will update again ASAP! 

Thank you all again! And also thank you to those of you who are simply thinking of us and reading these posts! That's awesome, too! 

Love Yall! 

A week at site!

Halo yufala! (Hi Yall!) We didn't think we would have Internet for another 3 weeks but it turns out we were able to come into Luganville yesterday for the night and we are at an Internet cafe this morning until our flight to our next training village this afternoon. We spent the last week at our site (where we will be starting in April for two years). It was an interesting, challenging, overwhelming week! Here's a recap...

We came into port Vila last Sunday from our previous training village, Lelepa. At the airport we checked in-- our bags weighed way more than they should have but the guy let us check them anyway! We weren't flying international so we didn't go through security or anything.. Just got right on the plane! So different from the U.S.!! The flight to Santo was about 50 min. We were greeted at the airport by our host family and the headmaster from Coles site-- which is a 45 min walk from mine. More on that later--we hoped in a truck and were on our way. It's an hour in a half ride from Luganville to our site. The road is super rocky, very muddy at times, up and down hill and has lots of pot holes! There are three types of sites here in Vanuatu, city or main town, beach and bush, our site is very bush. It is up a hill and surrounded by thick vegetation and lots of mud! When we got to my site (which is where we will live. Cole will make the commute back and forth from his site to mine each day) we put our things down at our "house" and walked over to one of the buildings at our school--our house is on the school grounds--where there we chairs lining the walls and a table set for two in the middle of the room. We were told to sit in two of the chairs lining the walls first. A man said an opening prayer and then our host mom came and put an island dress on me, right over my clothes, and an island shirt on Cole. Next, two kids walked over to us (one picked her nose the whole walk from one side of the room to the other!) and put two leis each on us. The nose picker put the leis on cole!! Then we were told to go and sit at the table in the middle of the room. There was a cover over the food to keep the flys away. When we sat down they uncovered the food to reveal an entire chicken and some local sides. People sat in the chairs lining the walls and watched us eat. It was the most awkward 20 min of our lives! Cole kept making noises to show how good we thought the food was to break the silence! He kept whispering really funny things to me and we basically giggled the whole time! Cole ate a chicken foot-- I discretely put mine back on the tray-- then we announced that we were "fulup" and that we would like to see Cole's site! The truck drove us further up the hill to Cole's site. It was getting dark so we just took a quick look at our host families house, the school and the house they had for us there--which is currently empty. Cole's site has never had a volunteer and they are not as prepared as my site, who has had one previous volunteer for the last two years. Our host family at his site has not been trained, our house isn't ready, and the school and community don't seem to quite know what to do with us! They are supposedly getting trained though and we will help them to see what we'll be doing and what we need from them once we come back in April. Like I said though, we will be living at my site primarily so cole will mostly just go there for work and lunch and we will go to church there every once in a while and maybe do some workshops there. We think I will go to his site with him once a week and we will teach there together, and he will stay at my site one day a week. That's still to be determined though! 

Anywho... After we checked out Cole's site the truck drove us back down to my site. The truck stopped at a Kava bar on the way back down and we both had a huge cup of kava. I couldn't finish mine. We went to have dinner at our host families house at my site when we got back. They are really great! Our mom is really sassy and funny and she would do literally anything for us! Our dad is more quiet but really nice! We have 3 siblings, two are away at school and one, Junior, lives at home and is in grade 3. He's great! After dinner we walked back to our place-- which is on the other side of the village, about a 7 to 10 min walk though lots of mud! When we got home we unpacked our stuff, got settled, washed our faces with buckets of water, washed our feet with buckets of water and got under our mosquito net for what we thought would be a good nights sleep... 

We were awakened in the middle of the night by lots of terrifying scratching noises, which we knew almost immediately must be rats. We shined our head lamp up to the bamboo rafters that hold up our thatched roof and saw a rat running across it. I, of coarse, was so freaked out and starting crying...a lot. It was awful and all I wanted was for it to be daylight. Cole helped a lot and took good care of me. Our house is very authentic and the roof has about a one inch opening all the way across, so it was more cool that any other night so far and he was actually able to hold onto me, which also made me cry because it felt like home. We didn't get much more sleep that night and woke up in the morning to find that the rats had eaten through 2 ziplock bags and gotten into our nature valley snack bars. We told our host mom about it and she gave us a kitten to help with our little situation! She is adorable! We named her pepper and I don't seem to be allergic to her!! We found some holes in the floor where the rats seem to be coming in and we have been told they will be fixed when we come back in April. 

That day, Monday, we observed in the classes at my school until around lunchtime and then the headmistress brought us lunch in our house. We ate and then rested and hung out until we walked to mammas house to have dinner. At my school there are 4 teachers, but one of them had not yet shown up for school. School started at the beginning of Feb. He showed up on Wednesday. Class 1 is taught by the headmistress, 2 and 3 are taught by the teacher who was not there, 4 and 5 are taught by another teacher and 6 is taught by another teacher. At my school when a teacher is not there, they just put an assignment on the board for the kids to do and then go check on them every once in a while. Most of the work they do is copying and repeating. Their grades are about 2 years behind the U.S., so in grade 3 they are doing 1st grade work. I will be working mostly with grades 1-3 I think. Which means I really need to work on my Bislama bc grade one is taught only in Bislama! 

Tuesday we walked to Cole's site for the first time-- remember we were taken there in a truck on Sunday evening-- it is up hill, hot, muddy and long! I feel so bad for cole! When we got there we found out that his school also has 4 teachers. On this particular day 2 of the 4 were there. One was at a meeting in the village and one, who is also the headmaster (who picked us up from the airport), hasn't come to school yet this school year bc he got a month of sick leave bc he can't see far away-true story. We hung out and observed for a bit, had lunch with our host fam there-- delicious fresh water prawns-- and started to make our way back down the hill. It started to rain about 5 min into our 45 min walk and rained the rest of the way, like, poured! We laughed at our situation and what is now our life almost the whole way back down! We had dinner with our family at my site again that night. One of our bosses, Lyn, also came to visit that night and had dinner with us and stayed at our mammas house. 

On Wednesday morning Cole, Lyn and myself went to the village nakamal (main meeting place) for a fundraiser. The fundraiser is super important to us because it was to raise money to bring a water pipe to the school grounds. Right now we have a water tank to use to fill our buckets for swimming (bucket bath), washing dishes and clothes, etc. but it is nearly dry and the tank is old and dirty. The kids currently have no where to use the bathroom at school - they walk home if they need to go - and have no access to drinking water at school. We need that pipe. Bad. We got to the nakamal at 8:30, which is when we heard the meeting was supposed to start. Only the chief and a few other men were there. The chief told us that the assistant chief would sound the horn soon to let everyone know to come to the nakamal. He came and sounded the horn around 9:15 and we waited until about 10:15 to start. Island time! The chief started with an opening prayer and a little speech and then cole and I talked for a min-- in Bislama!-- and then our boss talked for a while about peace corps, why we were there, etc. This was not a part of the fundraiser but it was a good opportunity to introduce ourselves to the people in the village. After Lyn's speech some people asked questions and then the chief spoke again, an elder said a closing prayer and the fundraiser started! The mamas put out food and all day and night people came and got a plate of food for 100vatu (1$) or kava for 100vatu. There was also a movie shown that night which was powered by a generator. Our village is very poor and there is no electricity or running water anywhere. Hopefully they raised a lot of money and we will have that water pipe when we come back in April. It will mean that we will have a spicket where we can fill our buckets that will come from a river. 

Thats afternoon (Wednesday) was supposed to be sports day at school, which the kids LOVE, but it rained a lot and they were only able to play a little. Cole played Futbol with some of the boys. 

On Thursday we headed back to Cole's school. Again, 2 of the 4 teachers were there. This time the one who was at the meeting on Tuesday was there but another teacher wasn't because he and his wife had gotten in a fight the day before where he tried to hit her and she held up his phone and he hit the phone and broke it instead. She left and went to Luganville and he wasn't at school because he came to Luganville to try to find her and get her and his son back. The headmaster/class 1 teacher was still on his cant see far away sick leave. Class 1 and class 5/6 had just been dismissed on account of their teachers not being there. We talked to the other two teachers, who just left their classes to come outside and talk to us for like an hour, and then headed back to my site. We didn't eat lunch with our host family this time bc they were at their garden which is a long walk away. 

Thursday's are clean up day at my site -- and most schools in vanuatu -- so that's afternoon half of the kids got huge bush knifes and cut grass and the others picked up rubbish (trash). When they were done they had a devotion where they sang a song and said a prayer. Cole and I were observing this. After the devotion one of the kids asked if they could play sports for a while since their sports time had been cut short the day before. When the teacher said yes all of the kids started screaming and running with their bush knives across the field to put them away and get balls to play! It. Was. Terrifying! It looked as if they were all running into battle! 

Cole played a little Futbol and then we both played volleyball with the girls! 

On Friday we decided to walk to visit Gabriella, another peace corps vol, at her site. We were told it was an hour walk away. Wrong. We walked down a long, steep, rocky hill and then up and down hills down the muddy rocky road for an hour and 45 min. My shoes got holes in them about half way through due to all of the rocks. When we got to Gabriella's site we were exhausted and DRENCHED in sweat! It looked as if we had gone swimming! We hung out for a while and then got a transport (truck) about 3/4's of the way back and then walked up hill the rest of the way! I might not ever visit Gabriella again!!!! On Friday night we packed and then went to eat dinner with our host family. We were really hoping for a good nights sleep bc so far each night something has gone on to keep us up...

Sunday: the rats, like I said earlier. 

Monday: excessive spitting and loogie hawking from the neighbors. 

Tuesday and Wednesday: a trees leaves LOUDLY smacking in the wind. 

Thursday: a lost puppy whining all night outside our house!!! 

Friday night was great! No interruptions!!!  

Saturday morning Gabrielle got a transport at her site and they came and picked up cole and I at our site. Cole and I hoped in the back of the truck and held on for dear life as it drove us the hour in half to town where we would spend the night. We spent the day with three other PC vols on santo from our group, Gabriella, Jeffrey (who is about an hour from town the opposite direction of us) and Hannah (who's site is here in town), Brian and Kate (a peace corps couple from the group before us who live here in town), and David (another PCV from the group before us who lives in town). Kate and Brian's house is so amazing! They have running water and electricity! We had lunch at an American cafe ( so delish!) and they took us to a blue hole! It was an amazing day! We all had a spaghetti dinner and then walked to get ice cream! It was also an amazing night! We took wonderful cold showers and slept without a mosquito net and with a fan! We will be coming here to town about once every two weeks to stay with either brain and Kate or with Hannah and to use the Internet, have a shower, eat american food etc! 

This morning we got up feeling clean and refreshed and headed to the same american cafe to have breakfast and use the Internet! Another great day so far! We have been able to FaceTime some fam and friends... Sorry if we didn't call you! We don't have that much time!... And update the blog! I ate french toast. So good! In a few minutes we are heading to the airport. We will fly to Vila, take a bus to a boat landing and then take a boat to another training village, Nguna, where we will be for the next 3 weeks. I think I mentioned in the previous post that we will have running water and electricity at out host families house in Nguna! It's also by the beach which we are looking forward to! 

So, all in all we had an okay week where we saw what our lives would be like for the next two years! We made a long list of things we will need to make our lives there more comfortable. It will be challenging, but we will get more used to it and we will be just fine! The people in both villages are nice and our host family at my site is wonderful! And we are lucky to be able to come into town every few weeks! It is really hard not having running water and being at such a bush site. The critters are also tough! But pepper will hopefully help us with that! 

Here are a few pics to hopefully give you more of an insight into what our lives here are going to be like! Sorry if this post is confusing and rambled! I'm trying to hurry! Please keep the emails coming, like I've said before. 

We will want to do some fundraising with some peeps from the US eventually to help with our school... More deets on that in April or May. They are in need of a lot! Remember, you can call us and/or send us packages! We need ziplock bags, duct tape, snacks, good books.. And whatever you want to send! Even just a letter! If you do send something, remember to send it in a padded envelope not a box! 

We love you all! ... 

Pepper!

Our house 

Our smol house (toilet) 

Long drop toilet (long hole in the ground under the toilet)

Our swim house (for bucket baths) 

Inside the swim house 

"Living room"

"Bedroom"

Class 1 building

Inside the class 2/3 building 

Class 2/3 building 

Our bush kitchen 

Inside our bush kitchen 

Go cocks! 

On the walk back from Cole's site 

Our host fam at my site:above

Terrifying truck ride into town!:below